Mastering the Earning Game

When faced with a challenge, some people freeze. They stop taking action. They drift or coast, hoping that the problem will disappear. They blame, complain, whine, or moan about their circumstances.

You have another option: Take 100 percent responsibility. In an unreliable economy, pointing your finger at the president, oil producers, mortgage lenders, Wall Street, or your boss takes your attention away from the inspired actions that will improve your financial well-being.

Starting today, move into action.

The things that you do during the next few months will dramatically affect your earning power and financial resilience for years to come.

Focus on Your Core Genius

Socrates said it best: “Know thyself.” Those two words offer timeless wisdom about attracting wealth.

Inside you is a core genius—something that you love to do, something that’s effortless and fun. When engaged in this activity, you feel fully alive. Time disappears, and you disappear into a pure state of flow.

Whatever it is, discover it. Connect it to a demand in the economy. Then make this activity the cornerstone of your career.

Dan Sullivan, a successful strategic coach, describes entrepreneurs as con artists. They get people to pay them for doing something that they love to do—and would otherwise do for free.

“The biggest mistake people make in life is not trying to make a living at doing what they most enjoy,” said Malcolm Forbes, former publisher of Fortune magazine. And as a multimillionaire, Forbes knew something about attracting wealth.

Delegate the Rest

The flip side of doing what you love is letting go of the rest. Successful people focus on their core genius—and delegate everything else.

You can use the same strategy. Perhaps your core genius is sales. Then ask your manager to let someone else process paperwork, make photocopies, and schedule meetings. If your core genius is training, then find someone else to call prospective clients and process seminar registrations.
If it can be done faster, better, and more cheaply by someone else, then let it go— once and for all.

Create More Value

When customers are hard to find and revenues decline, people often rivet their attention on the bottom line. The dominant question becomes: What can we do right now to make more money? Actually, there’s a more powerful question to ask first: What can we do right now to create more value? This shines a spotlight on the only reason that anyone makes money over the long term in the first place—by selling a product or delivering a service that creates value.

Mike Milliorn used to work as an Avery Label salesman. Some of his customers were restaurant managers who needed labels for food containers. The problem was that conventional labels dropped off containers when they sat for days in a refrigerator. Mike saw the need for a new kind of label, preprinted with the days of the week and an adhesive that survived refrigeration. He knew this would create extraordinary value.

Mike suggested this idea to Avery, but the company wasn’t interested. So Mike started producing the new line of labels on his own. Working out of his garage, he started a company called Daydots—which he sold for millions of dollars. He attracted that wealth simply by taking action on a simple idea to create more value.

Deliver What You Promise—and More

Even in tough times, successful people deliver what they promise. Then they add extra value by delivering a product before it’s due, by adding new services, or by offering a competitive price.

Adding extra value could call for more action on your part. You may need to gain special skills, make new contacts, or put in some more hours at work for a while. That’s a small price to pay for attracting new levels of wealth.

Make it a habit to exceed expectations. You’ll get noticed. You’ll get repeat business. And you’ll attract new opportunities in every area of your life.

Remember the True Meaning of Attraction

A limo driver once asked me how to achieve financial success. I told him to save 10 percent of everything he earns, invest it, and keep reinvesting the dividends. By the look on his face I could tell he was disappointed. Like so many other people he was looking for a get-rich-quick scheme.

The desire for such schemes is one reason for the global mortgage meltdown. Too many individuals and organizations believed that they could live well beyond their means. They piled on debt without creating value. The consequences are affecting all of us.

Are you "stuck" in this area?
Join me this summer at the Breakthrough to Success Retreat where we'll work together to overcome any unconscious blocks holding you back from your ideal life. http://www.breakthroughtosuccess.com